Splashback update....

Photo taken by: Victoria Birkenshaw (available for editorial and commercial work in the UK)

My main hobby right now is getting the lime green wall in the kitchen covered with toughened glass. I had a cocktail accident recently which involved two litres of fruit, vodka and soda water blasting out of the blender and things got messy (Yes, that was a deliberate double entendre).

The splashback quote we originally had was in the region of £550, but if you're a reader of this blog you'll remember that the company who quoted refused to show up to take the measurements. Despite 2-3 weeks of quite regular pleading phone calls.

The latest quote is more than double but at least they return emails and phone calls (eventually). However, it's been nearly two weeks since the quote was confirmed and despite me trying to sort out a time for them to come and measure up I've yet to hear back from them.

Is there really a recession on? It seems to me that there's plenty of work out there for glass manufacturers at least.

(This snap was taken a few months ago. I'm using it here mainly because it shows the kitchen and partly because it shows my neighbour looking like something from a Martin Parr retrospective.)

Foxy

Foxes in Hackney have had justifiably bad press lately, thanks to the awful incident with the baby twins being mauled in their cot while they slept (not far from where we live, actually).

We've noticed an increase in fox presence the last few months. Twice we've had a cub on the roof of the glass extension, which I can assure you, is incredibly freaky when you're looking up at a hairy belly and the doors are wide open.

Lately there's been a sunbathing fox over the fence from us. (Pictured - photo taken from the top floor, she's that brown smudge next to the hedge. Excuse the parched lawn). She's there in the morning, the evening and whenever it's sunny. I thought foxes were nocturnal? One of my neighbours bought a sonic sensor which is meant to keep foxes and cats out of his garden, but I've seen the local tough cat sauntering straight past it without so much as a twitch.

Lounghead

Still no splashback to report. The second company assure me that I'll have a quote soon. I gave up on the first company, as they just wouldn't show up. There hasn't been a whole lot of of progress regarding any part of the renovation really.

Last month we spent a week at the same French holiday villa we stayed at last year. The owners had taken my advice and bought a set of really good chef's knives (joy) and had replaced the sun loungers with new ones (pictured top). Our garden gets the sun until 6pm during the summer and it's a bit of waste to watch the lawn from the house. I decided to go to Habitat and get my own lounger, which are on sale right now for £31.50. I got mine in hot pink, and saved another 15% off the sale price due to some promotion they were running at the weekend. Unfortunately, since buying it, it's been raining in London so there hasn't been a whole lot of lounging going on.

Dusty limits

This is probably karma. Our lovely next door neighbours have relocated to Singapore for two years and are demolishing the back of their house to do something similar to ours. The noise is phenomenal and the mess is eye watering. There have been two skips filled in the last ten days. I can't seem to sneak anything in there either as the builders need every bit of space for their fast accumulating debris.

Check the glass in our extension (photo above) - it was cleaned not that long ago but is now thick with brick dust and dirt. No point in hosing it down as the construction is nowhere near finished.

The builders are very friendly and I'm hoping they do a good job and finish somewhere near the budget and within the timing schedule as I'd be keen for them to quote for phase 2 of our house. The local glass company never got back to me about fitting our splash back so I've moved on to another one, only these guys seem reluctant to pin down a time to pop over too. Is there a shortage of glass suppliers in London?